The Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is the federal agency tasked with investigating data breaches involving protected health information (PHI) under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
The mere mention of an OCR investigation can strike fear into the hearts of HIPAA privacy officers and health care executives everywhere. Data breaches have been occurring with disturbingly high frequency in the health care industry. If a covered entity experiences a data breach involving more than 500 affected individuals, a regulatory investigation by the OCR is virtually guaranteed. Read more >>